Contents

Der Sturm was established in Berlin in 1910 by Herwarth Walden. It ran weekly until monthly in 1914, and became a quarterly in 1924. The magazine modelled on the Italian literary magazine La Voce published in Florence from 1908 to 1916.[1]Der Sturm ceased publication in 1932.

Particularly in the time before outbreak of the World War I, Der Sturm played a crucial role in the French-German exchange of expressionist artists, which led to a special relationship between Berlin and Paris. Regularly, poems and other texts of French and/or French-speaking expressionists were published (Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, etc.). This relationship was renewed after the war despite the hostilities between the two countries caused by the fighting.

After the war, Walden expanded Der Sturm into Sturmabende, lectures and discussions on modern art, and Die Sturmbühne, an expressionist theatre, as well as publishing books and portfolios by leading artists such as Oskar Kokoschka. Despite this, the gallery declined in importance after the war and closed in 1924, leaving the magazine to carry on as a quarterly until it too closed in 1932.[3]

However, concerning the exact closing date of the Der Sturm Art Gallery (an offshoot of the magazine) as Maurice Godé, wrote in his book "Der Sturm of Herwarth Walden or the utopia of an autonomous art", the author wanted to promote the German "avant-garde" arts by means of both resident and touring exhibitions. Accordingly, Walden organized, until 1932, more than 200 exhibitions in its premises in Berlin plus multiple other touring exhibitions (Wanderausstellungen) in Germany and also in most other major European cities.